Huile sur toile, 2024
Tangerines have appeared in Lan’s artwork as remnants of shared connections. The fruits are often left out both as gifts of hospitality to guests and as offerings to ancestors. Their opened peels resemble blooming flowers, an ode to time well spent. The blue of the painting references cyanotype, a printmaking technique that facilitated early forms of photographic documentation, particularly botanical reproductions.
Lan “Florence” Yee is a visual artist and cultural worker based in Tkaronto/Toronto and Tiohtiá:ke/Mooniyang/Montréal. Their interdisciplinary practice is disguised in writing and unassuming imagery to permeate the slippery ends of meaning. Their widely ranging media, including textile embroidery, sculptural installation, electronic signage, painting, and photography, are grounded together by unearthing speculative bonds between the historical and personal.
Lan’s work has been exhibited at the Art Museum at the University of Toronto, the Textile Museum of Canada (Toronto), Fonderie Darling (Montréal), the Toronto Museum of Contemporary Art, and the Gardiner Museum (Toronto), among others. They co-founded the Institute of Institutional Critique with Mattia Zylak in 2019 and the Chinatown Biennial with Arezu Salamzadeh in 2020. Lan’s work has been acquired by the Royal Bank of Canada Collection, Equitable Bank, Canada Council Art Bank, City of Montréal, and the Varley Art Gallery.